Philips Hue - Smart Button

The Hue Smart Button is one round button, 32 mm across, that does whatever you tell it to. A press turns a room on and off, a hold dims it, and with a Hue Bridge a press can fire a named scene instead.

• What one Hue Smart Button actually does
• It comes out of the plate and goes wherever you are
• Why one button rather than four
• No Bridge needed to start
• What to put it with

What one Hue Smart Button actually does

More than the single button suggests. A press switches a room on and off. A hold dims it, running the light up or down while your finger stays down. And with a Hue Bridge, a press can fire a named scene instead of plain on, so one button becomes the evening setting for a whole room. Three behaviours, one control, nothing to learn.

It comes out of the plate and goes wherever you are

The plate screws or sticks up beside a door. The button lifts out of it, so the same control that switches the room on your way in lives on the bedside table at night, or goes into a pocket, or sits on a desk. Then it clips back into the plate so it is where the next person expects it. Thirteen grams on its own, 32 mm across.

Why one button rather than four

Because a single obvious control gets used by everyone in the house and a four button remote gets used by the person who set it up. For a bedroom, a spare room, a passage or a guest room, one button that does the right thing is a better answer than four buttons somebody has to be taught. Buy the dimmer switch where you genuinely want brighter and dimmer as separate keys.

No Bridge needed to start

On its own it holds up to 10 Hue lights, so it works the day it arrives. A Bridge adds scenes, schedules and software updates later. One CR2032 is in the box, rated at two years or 50,000 clicks, and there is no wiring, no back box and no electrician at any point.

What to put it with

Any Hue lamps: the Hue White, the Hue White Ambiance or the Hue Color. Add the Hue Bridge when you want scenes and schedules on it.

If you want brighter and dimmer as their own keys, that is the Hue Dimmer Switch. The wall plate is 80 by 125 by 6 mm and the whole thing weighs 39 grams with it. Philips document the range at philips-hue.com.